The present invention relates to strong, soft, absorbent paper webs, and to the processes for making them.
One pervasive feature of daily life in modern industrialized societies is the use of disposable products, particularly disposable products made of paper. Paper towels, facial tissues, bath tissues, and the like are in almost constant use. The general demand for disposable paper products has created a demand for improved versions of the products and of the methods of their manufacture. Despite great strides in paper making, research and development efforts continue to be aimed at improving both the products and their processes of manufacture.
Disposable products such as paper towels, facial tissues, bath tissues, and the like are made from one or more plies of tissue paper. If the products are to perform their intended tasks and to find wide acceptance, they, and the tissue paper webs from which they are made, must exhibit certain physical characteristics. Among the more important of these characteristics are strength, softness, and absorbency.
Strength is the ability of a paper web to retain its physical integrity during its intended use.
Softness is the pleasing tactile sensation the user perceives as he or she crumples the paper in his or her hand and contacts various portions of his or her anatomy with it.
Absorbency is the characteristic of the paper which allows it to take up and retain fluids, particularly water, aqueous solutions and suspensions.
In addition to strength, softness, and absorbency, bath tissue (i.e., toilet paper) should have sufficient physical properties to allow cleaning tasks to be performed efficiently. By xe2x80x9ccleaning taskxe2x80x9d is primarily meant post toilet cleaning, i.e., post-urination or post-defecation wiping. By xe2x80x9cefficientlyxe2x80x9d is meant that cleaning is accomplished with a minimal waste of paper and preferably with no soiling of the hands of the user. Additionally, the user should perceive the post cleaning state as clean, dry, and fresh.
Current bath tissues are generally thin, i.e., they have relatively low caliper. Even with recent improvements in tissue bulk, basis weight, and caliper, consumers typically use multiple layers of bath tissue by folding or crumpling tissue for each cleaning task. Multiple layers may be necessary to prevent poke through of fingers, as well as to prevent moisture from contacting the user""s hands. Often more paper than necessary is pulled from a roll due to the consumer""s desire to minimize the risk of soiling his or her hands during cleaning. Thus, cleaning efficiency is sacrificed due to the real and perceived needs of the user.
Whereas most consumers feel the need to use many layers of current bath tissue to provide adequate cleaning with hand protection, most consumers also desire to minimize waste, and use less disposable paper. The reasons for this are varied, but include an innate desire to conserve resources, minimize cost, preserve the environment, or combinations of these reasons. For example, the recent introduction by The Procter and Gamble Co. of BOUNTY(copyright) xe2x80x9cSelect-a-Size(trademark)xe2x80x9d paper towels and BOUNTY(copyright) xe2x80x9cRinse and Reuse(trademark)xe2x80x9d paper towels are an attempt to address this problem in the category of paper towels. However, the problem has yet to be adequately addressed in the category of bath tissue.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a wiping article that provides for more efficient post toilet cleaning.
Additionally, it would be desirable to have a bath tissue that allows consumers to use less bath tissue for each cleaning task, while maintaining adequate hand protection.
Further, it would be desirable to provide a strong, soft, absorbent tissue paper being able to provide superior cleaning, even one sheet cleaning, without the need to fold or crumple the paper prior to use.
A wiping implement suitable for use as a bath tissue can be formed into sheets, each sheet comprising at least one ply of a paper web having a basis weight of at least about 25 lb/3000 square feet. The sheet can have a width of at least about 4.5 inches and temporary wet tensile properties. The sheet of the present invention can have an area of at least about 30 square inches. In a multiple ply embodiment, the sheet can have an optimized basis weight of at least about 42 lb/3000 square feet while maintaining nearly the same amount of actual total fiber usage per cleaning task as current premium bath tissues.